Authentic Discourse and Model Exemplars in Japanese Language Textbooks: A Case Study of Apologies and Requests

<p>In recent years, the communicative approach has prevailed in second language teaching, such that model dialogues are presented in textbooks for language learners. However, there has been little research on the extent to which such exemplars reflect authentic discourse in Japanese. This thesis, therefore, explores the speech acts of Japanese language native speakers (NSs), non-native speakers who are learning Japanese (NNSs), and discourse model examples presented in Japanese language textbooks (TXs) in order to investigate their similarities and differences, and thereby enhance the contents of textbooks. In particular, this thesis focuses on the discourse structure and expressions. The study takes a quantitative approach to the data analysis, using two different scenarios in settings of apology and requests. NSs pairs and NNSs pairs were requested to perform role-plays of two different scenarios in Japanese. The conversational data of the role-plays were transcribed, and the model exemplars of apology and request presented in the selected Japanese language textbooks were also analysed. The analysis employs the framework of cross-cultural speech act realisation patterns (CCSARP) of Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) to categorise utterances based on the intentions of the speakers into two parts, namely: Head Acts (HAs) and Supportive Moves (SMs). Once the data were classified by the CCSARP, individual HAs and SMs were sorted according to Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987), which divides politeness strategies into four types: bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record. By adopting both CCSARP and politeness theory, the characteristics of the discourse strategies and expressions of the three groups analysed in this thesis can be grasped. The analysis produces several new findings by identifying various ways in which the model dialogues in Japanese language textbooks fail to reflect the natural discourse of Japanese native speakers. The thesis presents suggestions for improvement for the benefit of textbook authors in future.</p>

Authentic Discourse and Model Exemplars in Japanese Language Textbooks: A Case Study of Apologies and Requests

<p>In recent years, the communicative approach has prevailed in second language teaching, such that model dialogues are presented in textbooks for language learners. However, there has been little research on the extent to which such exemplars reflect authentic discourse in Japanese. This thesis, therefore, explores the speech acts of Japanese language native speakers (NSs), non-native speakers who are learning Japanese (NNSs), and discourse model examples presented in Japanese language textbooks (TXs) in order to investigate their similarities and differences, and thereby enhance the contents of textbooks. In particular, this thesis focuses on the discourse structure and expressions. The study takes a quantitative approach to the data analysis, using two different scenarios in settings of apology and requests. NSs pairs and NNSs pairs were requested to perform role-plays of two different scenarios in Japanese. The conversational data of the role-plays were transcribed, and the model exemplars of apology and request presented in the selected Japanese language textbooks were also analysed. The analysis employs the framework of cross-cultural speech act realisation patterns (CCSARP) of Blum-Kulka et al. (1989) to categorise utterances based on the intentions of the speakers into two parts, namely: Head Acts (HAs) and Supportive Moves (SMs). Once the data were classified by the CCSARP, individual HAs and SMs were sorted according to Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987), which divides politeness strategies into four types: bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record. By adopting both CCSARP and politeness theory, the characteristics of the discourse strategies and expressions of the three groups analysed in this thesis can be grasped. The analysis produces several new findings by identifying various ways in which the model dialogues in Japanese language textbooks fail to reflect the natural discourse of Japanese native speakers. The thesis presents suggestions for improvement for the benefit of textbook authors in future.</p>

PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF TV-DEPENDENT PERSONALITY. PROBLEM STATEMENT

The article deals with the analysis of the personality in the modern informational world problem. The author based the theoretical analysis of this problem on the specifics of the current stage in psychological studies of mass communication. The author assumes that social constructivism, as a postmodernist approach and the theoretical basis of modern studies in mass communication, considers the way mass communication participants construct their idea of the world and its peculiarities. The concept of the “mosaic-resonance effect” is interpreted as the main feature of the nowadays mass media’s messages. The author analyzes the discourse as an instrument used to examine the construction of one's idea of the world during mass communication. The main characteristics of the two models of mass communication: the discourse model by J.Fiske and the constructivist model by W.Gamson, are reviewed in detail. The empirical study outcomes have shown the perspectives of further studies of the mass media's psychological influence on the peculiarities of the person’s way to construct the image of the world and one’s means of interpreting communicative signals to be prospective. Our empirical study demonstrated that subjects referred to as TV-dependent (those who tend to spend a lot of time watching the TV content) are characterized by non-stable emotions, less considerate in linking and analyzing the details of the given information, its’ non-critical perception. TV-dependent respondents mostly perceive the TV data non-adequately, paying attention to emotionally meaningful pieces of information, and tending to reconstruct their image of the event, so that it might be an illustration or general background of the TV content piece, or the information of the lower levels of semantic structure in terms of A.A.Bodalyov.

Conceptual metaphors, emotions and evaluations, standards and stereotypes in Russian and English proverbs of Truth

The paper deals with revealing conceptual metaphors, ways of expressing emotions and values, implicated fixation of standards and stereotypes in semantic structure and prag-matics of proverbs both taken in isolation, and in actualized regime in the context of fiction. Universal and national specific features of proverbial concept are brought out by means of cognition-discourse model of proverb’s sense actualization (CDM) in communicative episodes based on the texts of fiction.

The Art of Manipulating Masses and Failure of Leadership in Orwells Animal Farm and Pakistani Politics: A Comparative Study

Purpose: The purpose of this research study is to comparatively study George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) and Pakistani political scenario. The study attempts to find similarities between the two from various aspects such as economy, freedom of speech, leadership, etc., and their effect on the masses. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is mainly qualitative as the evidence is gathered from the novella Animal Farm and the public speeches, interviews, and from the social media handles of leading politicians. Critical Discourse Model (CDA), developed by Van Dijk (2001), is employed for the analysis and discussion. The selected texts were then contextualized for comparative analysis. Findings: The textual evidence collected from the novella Animal Farm and the speeches, interviews, and social media posts from the political leaders reveal that there are certain common elements in both parties. The common elements include censorship on freedom of expression, lack of deliverance on the part of leadership, worsening economy, etc. Implications/Originality/Value: This research study is significant in the sense it is applicable on various levels such as leadership and its role in shaping the fate of society, the importance of freedom of speech as it paves the way for discussion for a better future of a nation. It also discusses the reason for the failure of economy. Furthermore, it is applicable to prevail justice and equality in society in all forms. This study aimed at discussing the common elements between Animal Farm and Pakistani politics. This is, to the best of my knowledge, perhaps, the first attempt in this regard. It is beneficial for readers in the sense that it provides them to relate the fictional world of Animal Farm to the real happenings in society and its impact on members of the society. Furthermore, it is suggestive in the sense that it provides a solution/alternative for the politicians and stakeholders of the state.

Legal Argumentation as Rational Discourse

The discourse model of legal argumentation is presented in this chapter as a reaction to the weaknesses or deficiencies of alternative models. The most important alternative models are the model of deduction, the model of decision, the hermeneutic model, and the model of coherence. The discourse model connects the institutional or real dimension of legal argumentation with its non-institutional or ideal dimension. The result is the special case thesis. It combines institutional arguments, based on the authority of positive law, with substantive arguments, based on practical reason. This connection of the real dimension of legal argumentation with its ideal dimension is a central element of the institutionalization of practical reason.

Perspectives on The Monopoly of Religiusity in Novel Tuhan Maha Asyik 2 By Sujiwo Tejo and Dr. Muhammad Nursamad Kamba

This analysis aims to describe and explain forms of monopoly religiosity using micro, meso, and macro text analysis of Norman Fairclough's critical discourse model in the novel Tuhan Maha Asyik 2 by Sujiwo Tejo and DR. Muhammad Nursamad Kamba. This analysis uses a descriptive-analytical method with the object of research in the form of the power of certain groups over religion in the novel Tuhan Maha Asyik 2. The data collection technique in this analysis is documentation. The technique used to analyze the data using the flow model (flow model) Miles and Huberman. The source of the data used comes from the text of the novel Tuhan Maha Asyik 2 by Sujiwo Tejo and DR. Muhammad Nursamad Kamba 366 pages thick. The results of the analysis from the micro, meso, and macro levels show that there are forms of the monopoly of religiosity that are perpetuated by certain groups in society that require personal interests under the guise of religion. Certain groups monopolize religion, then God is ridden to legitimize political desires under the guise of religion, armed with the puncture of words on the pulpit. These sad messages were presented by Sujiwo Tejo and Dr Muhammad Nursamad Kamba in the sequel Tuhan Maha Asyik 2.

FEAR RHETORIC IN THE ONLINE NEWS DISCOURSE ON THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN TEUN VAN DIJK’S CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

The news media, once thought to be only as a tool of information delivery, has subtly shifted its roles as an agent of (de)constructing thoughts, introducing, or denoting fear especially in appalling news. This raises a question whether the news on the COVID-19 pandemic is only for transmitting news updates on the pandemic condition or agenda-driven. However, research tapping into the imbued messages in language complexity in this context seems minimal. This study aims to uncover the language elements that sign fear in a news text. This research focuses on how fear is imbued in three online English-language newspaper articles in Indonesia published by the Jakarta Post, thereby the rhetoric of fear. The three articles discussed the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia. In this study, CDA is devised to reveal the traces of fear-embedded language choices found in the three online newspaper articles. Researchers used the critical analysis discourse model of Teun A. Van Dijk (1993) and the three elements of discourse (1993): micro, macro, and superstructure. Findings indicated that there were common uses of euphemism, dysphemism, and orthophemism to refine the language being conveyed. This study classified euphemism into five objectives: (1) evasive maneuver to prevent mass panic; (2) speech refinement to soften offence, insults, and/ or other language expressions that may result to humiliation; (3) diplomacy tool; (4) language replacement for taboo or vulgar language choices or those endowed with negative connotation (5) tool for satire, sarcasm and subtle criticism. This study also revealed some linguistic decisions, such as lexicon choices and strategies on sentence construction, subtly evident not only to impose fear, but at the same time to dispose it. Researchers hope that this study may assist the readers in pinpointing subtleties in author’s tone and tendency.

Body of Woman As A Site For Battle: A Critical Study of Sidhwa’s Ice-Candy Man

Partitioning of the subcontinent into Pakistan and India is a mega event in the history of South Asia that haunts the minds of the inhabitants because of the untold destruction and the atrocities inflicted on the migrants. The later generations come to know of the havocs carved on women's bodies mostly through stories of the victims or who witnessed molestation of women. In this connection, this article aims to critically analyze the novel Ice-Candy Man by Sidhwa which delineates the defilement of women at the periphery. The views of different feminist critics constitute the theoretical framework while Fairclough’s social discourse model serves as a methodological framework. For analysis, the technique of Content Analysis has been employed. The findings reveal that Sidhwa has caricatured the predicament of the women whose bodies became sites for male aggression as icons of the ethnic groups during the communal strives. They undergo physical and sexual furiousness of men before, during, and after the partition. Men dehumanized them to disgrace the opponents/the other. The novel may, further, be studied from psychoanalytical, cultural, and Marxist perspectives.

An Integrated Approach to Pragmatic Competence: Its Framework and Properties

The exploration of pragmatic competence has been endowed with theoretical and empirical significance for half a century, yet a common framework is still under investigation from different perspectives. First, this article conducts a critical review of the investigation of pragmatic competence in communicative ability theory, the function-discourse model, the componential and meaning-driven model, and the relevance-theoretic model. Based on the merits and demerits of these proposals and their relation with Chomsky’s dichotomy of grammatical and pragmatic competences, an integrated model of pragmatic competence (IMPC) is reformulated for thought and communication, focusing on the interactions among various organism-internal submodules under the current minimalist framework and their interactions with outside sociocultural factors. Finally, a comparison is made between the integrated proposal and the theory and models.